West Tennessee St. business prepares its final goodbye after 48 years of operating
Hugs, tears, and last-minute purchases help commemorate the final days of the pawn shop the Tallahassee community has grown to love over the decades.
Mike’s Pawn Shop, known for its rich family history and the neighborhood destination it created in the lives of local college students and people from all walks of life in Tallahassee, marks the end of an era with the doors slated to close at the end of August.
“We've met a bunch of great customers who were friends, even some of them cried when they found out we were going to close down, so I'll miss them,” Mike Norman, president of Mike’s Pawn Shop, said in an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat. “We’ve been fortunate enough to make a living for 48 years.”
The announcement came as a surprise for those who once pawned their items at the store.
The company shared the announcement in an early morning Facebook post on July 11.
“We were raised on this 500 block of Tennessee St. when our father opened Mike's Texaco and our mother opened the Army Navy Store when we were kids. All of our sisters and childhood friends spent time playing, working and hanging out in the walls of this building. Our lives have been influenced by the employees and customers that we have been fortunate enough to have met over the years! For that we thank you. And wish you well!!”
Many reacted to the post with sentiments including an overwhelming amount of thank you notes, sprinkled in with good luck wishes and happy retirement farewells.
One Facebook user wrote: “Praying for you and your families as you begin this new chapter. Thank you for the years of friendship and the many treasures we found at your shop. Time to rest, relax and have fun! Take care Norman family…. you are loved!”
Family business next to legendary Beer Barn
Mike’s Pawn Shop, 538 W. Tennessee St., not only holds the memory of the two brothers – Mike Norman, 70, and Mark Norman, 61, who operated the shop together for decades, but also their parents – Mike and Olive Norman, who laid the foundation for the family’s businesses in the 1950s.
The brothers have made their mark on Tennessee Street, in the shadows of Florida State University, helping develop the community as they continued to build on the legacy of their late parents whom they both agreed were “fantastic people.”
“You couldn’t ask for better parents,” Mike said, as the brothers turn their eyes to the wall of articles at the front of the store displaying their father’s impact on the community, including his time as a quarterback at Florida State University and his legacy as both a family man and businessman.
What started as solely an Army-Navy store in the '50seventually transformed into a pawn shop. Along with the pawn shop was Mike’s Texaco, opened in 1956, which evolved into Mike’s Beer Barn, which has been a staple along the Tennessee Street strip ever since. It was the first Tallahassee business to sell beer from a gas station and the first local retailer to sell kegs.
The property eventually gained national attention as a one-stop shop for spirits, auto repairs and car washes in the '70s, as it was dubbed one of Tallahassee’s top attractions. The package store will continue to be operated by close family friend, Mike Raynor, who the brothers thank for carrying on the store’s legacy.
The decision to close the pawn shop was prompted by upcoming changes in this section of West Tennessee Street.
The West Tennessee Street parcels will be replaced by “HUB Tallahassee,” a proposed seven-story, 500,000-square-foot redevelopment student housing project.
After 10 years of contemplating closing the pawn shop, the two brothers agreed “it was time,” after the opportunity presented itself to leave and close the business.
Pawn tales: Set of dentures, a prosthetic leg, and a prized Martin guitar
The cozy pawn shop is decorated from corner to corner with items for sale. Glass cases are filled with gold rings, chains, watches, and other valuables, including Air Pods and other forms of technology.
You also can find anything from tires to lawnmowers and other garden tools.
The back wall is filled with an assortment of televisions of every dimension. Hidden in the back corner is a display case of guns, knives and more.
During a recent interview, the brothers took a trip down memory lane reflecting on the most expensive, weirdest, and funniest items people have walked into the shop with the intent to pawn. Each question brought on more laughs, which one customer and friend of the family enjoyed listening in on before saying her goodbyes.
Mark, who is credited for having a better memory, according to Mike, laughs about the week-old T-bone steak someone offered to pawn, and the set of still-used dentures another visitor offered on the spot, as some of the oddest items they’ve encountered.
But not the weirdest.
Mike reminds Mark of how he had to shoo away a man who arrived in a wheelchair with a friend and tried to sell his prosthetic leg, because they would not take “no” for an answer.
The most expensive items sold in the store the brothers agreed on were jewelry, specifically rings, selling for hundreds of dollars.
All of the existing items in the store will be placed on a final sale. That includes a prized 1969 Martin N-20 classical guitar, the same type Willie Nelson has played since 1969, according to an Oct. 26post on their Facebook page. The asking price: $20,000.
The shop’s era has officially come to an end and Mike jokingly admits that his favorite memory was “leaving in the afternoon” to go home. But, in all seriousness, the brothers candidly shared they were just grateful for the time they have spent working together and the connections they have been able to make along the way.
"Forty-eight years is a long time,” Mike said. “I was 22 years old when I opened it and I understand it now. So yeah, it's time."
Democrat writer Kyla A. Sanford can be reached at ksanford@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Local business prepares its final goodbye after 48 years of operating
